This delicious Low-Carb and Gluten-Free Double Mushroom Soup has two kinds of mushrooms and extra flavor from balsamic vinegar. And if you omit the butter and use only olive oil this tasty soup can be Paleo or Whole 30 approved.

This Low-Carb Double Mushroom Soup is not only the best-tasting dish I've ever made out of old mushrooms in the fridge that were close to past-their-prime status, but it's also the best mushroom soup I've ever made, and it's a phase one soup for the South Beach Diet!

This is also the soup that will make you remember how much you love your immersion blender, if you have one. If not, you can puree the soup in a food processor or regular blender; it's just a bit easier with the immersion blender.

I did add my own touches, using some dried mushrooms along with the fresh ones for even more flavor, skipping the sherry, and adding a drizzle of balsamic vinegar on top. (I did use some butter for flavor even though I know it isn't South Beach Diet approved; however I'm guessing this will still taste heavenly if you use all olive oil and skip the butter.) I think this will become my new go-to soup for a first course for dinner parties, it's that good.

Soak 1 cup dried mushrooms in boiling water for about 30 minutes, then drain and save the soaking liquid. If needed, strain the liquid with cheesecloth or a coffee filter.

Wash 12 ounces of fresh mushrooms, then drain and cut into thick slices. I used regular white mushrooms, which were showing a few signs of age, but they were still wonderful in this soup.

One large onion is cut into thin slices and then sauteed in olive oil (with or without a tiny bit of butter, your choice.) Then the fresh mushrooms are added and sauteed for a bit longer.

Then add dried mushrooms, reserved mushroom water, chicken stock and a bit of dried parsley are added and the soup is simmered for one hour. After an hour, season soup with salt and pepper and taste for flavor. When the liquid tastes perfect to you, puree with an immersion blender, food processor, or regular blender, and serve with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. If you have guests, sit back and wait for the compliments.

Ingredients:
1 cup dried mushrooms (I used dried shitakes, but use any type of mushrooms you like the flavor of.)
2 cup boiling water
3 T olive oil (more or less, depending on your pan and whether you're using the butter)
2 tsp. butter (optional, use a little more olive oil if you prefer)
1 large onion, cut into thin half-slices
12 oz. fresh mushroom, thickly sliced (I used regular white mushrooms but I think I might use brown Crimini mushrooms next time.)
4 cups chicken stock (I used my homemade chicken stock.)
1 tsp. dried parsley (or use 2 tsp. fresh parsley if you have it)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste (I didn't use much salt.)
2 T good quality balsamic vinegar, for drizzling over soup when you serve it

Instructions:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil, then put dried mushrooms into a plastic bowl and pour boiling water over. Let mushrooms soak 30 minutes, while you prep other ingredients.

Peel onion and cut in half lengthwise, then cut each half into thin slices. Wash mushrooms, drain in colander, and then cut into thick slices. Heat 2 T olive oil (plus 1 tsp. butter if you're using it) in the bottom of a heavy soup pot big enough to hold all the soup. Saute onions about about five minutes, until they're well softened but not browned. Add 1 more T olive oil if you think you need it (plus 1 tsp. more butter if you're using it). Add sliced fresh mushrooms and saute about 8 minutes, until mushrooms have released all their liquid and it has mostly been evaporated.

Add dried mushrooms, mushrooms soaking water (strained through cheesecloth or a coffee filter if it needs it), chicken stock, and dried or fresh parsley. Bring soup to a very gentle simmer and cook uncovered for about one hour. After an hour (when soup should have reduced by at least 1/4) taste for flavor, and add salt and fresh ground black pepper as needed. If the soup doesn't seem flavorful enough, cook a bit longer to reduce a little more. When soup has a good mushroom flavor, puree either by using an immersion blender to puree soup in the pot, or by carefully removing hot soup to a food processor or or regular blender to puree. (Be very careful if using food processor or blender. Puree in batches, and don't overfill the container.)

Serve hot (reheat if needed after pureeing in food processor or blender). Drizzle a little good quality balsamic vinegar over each bowl of soup as you serve it.

The use of butter isn't recommended by the South Beach Diet, but I couldn't resist adding a tiny bit of butter to the olive oil for flavor. Everything else here is low-glycemic and I loved the idea that the soup had no cream, but tasted very creamy. If you want to be completely faithful to South Beach or for a version of this soup that's Paleo or Whole 30 approved, just use all olive oil and I'm sure the soup will still be great. Even with the bit of butter, I think this is a good phase one soup for South Beach.

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you're a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

More Delicious Soup with Mushrooms:
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

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OH, how I love love love mushrooms. I can't seem to get past eating them sauteed though. I saute them and next thing I know they're all gone, too yummy. Maybe if I buy twice as many I'll have enough left for this soup!

I made a very similar soup last winter (minus the balsamic, which sounds like a great addition!). However, the texture was very "grainy" because, no matter what I did, I could not get the mushrooms to completely puree, so there were lots of tiny mushroom pieces. Maybe I need an immersion blender.

People who are thinking this looks good, it was so delicious. All credit to Anthony Bourdain for the recipe, so I can say that. Caroline, I do think the immersion blender probably made a big difference here. The texture of my soup was lovely. The immersion blender is my most-loved kitchen tool for the small investment, I highly recommend it.

This recipe looks so simple. I have to try it when mushrooms are on sale.IMHO: As far as SBD goes, I'd err on the side of fewer carbs and be less scared of saturated fat. There is new research that saturated fat isn't nearly as detrimental as previously thought.

Nevis, I was making this for a phase one recipe, so I didn't want to add anything like that. But if you weren't doing that I think barley (precooked, added after the soup was pureed) would be great in this, as well as brown rice, farro, or even small beans. I also think the basic recipe here would be delicious not pureed, with barley added for the second half hour of simmering. Thanks for the idea, I love barley!

ValerieAnne, that's good to know. I definitely agree with that in my personal philosophy about eating, but for the blog I do try to make sure recipes fit into South Beach guidelines, or are at least what I call "a once in a while treat" with more fat. This was really very good with even the small amount of butter I used. I don't think you need tons of fat to get flavor, but a tiny bit of butter does make a difference.

Cookiecrumb, love soup season. I think I could do soup all year if I live where it didn't get hot!

The butter restriction is due to saturated fats, which are restricted in South Beach. I have to admit, I do love butter, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. Sometimes though, just a bit of butter can really make a difference.

I remember noticing that recipe when I had his book out from the library but never got the chance to try it. Since I love mushroom soup and never make it, and since you've given this such a hearty endorsement, I'll have to try it.

Before I jumped off the SBD wagon last fall I thought there were few SB comfort foods. After getting back on track this week I was lucky enough to find your site with lots of them. Yesterday I made your Hungarian Pot Roast in a Crockpot and today I see this which I'll make tomorrow. I've been wanting an excuse to make a concentrated balsamic drizzle so I may add that.

Dala, I think it would freeze well. You might need to puree the soup again when it's thawed if the water has separated out. Let me know if you try it; I ate all mine and didn't get to try freezing any.

Hi KalynOn clearing my cupboard out last week, I found half a packet of dried porcini mushrooms, sadly past the sell by date, oh joy! I had 9 poussin carcasses I'd just boiled up!from the New Years Eve dinner. Luckily I had freshish ones in the fridge. Made enough soup for our family, my friends family, and two days worth for my Dad,(he ate the lot in one go!)Your soup looks great!Off to buy more mushrooms now ;0)Lesley

I just finished making this soup and I love it! I used a variety of mushrooms, oyster, crimini, white, etc. along with the dried shitakes. I wish I'd doubled it so I oould take it for lunch all week! I did buy an immersion blender for this recipe, I'd been wanting one anyway!!

I was just googling mushroom soup and came across your fantastic blog. I'm going to be making soup all week now during my vacation! I'm going to start with a French Onion Soup today! One comment: I live in Baltimore, where it's hot and humid in the summer and I DON'T CARE! I STILL EAT SOUP ALL YEAR LONG!

Just made the soup (with a slight change)and it is fabulous. Pureeing the dried mushrooms along with fresh ones, took care of the texture that I don't like in the dried mushrooms. I saved some pieces of sauteed onion and sauteed fresh mushroom to add to the soup after doing the puree. I like texture to my soup. I also added garlic and a bit of ginger and it makes a very nice addition. A little ginger goes a long way here. It changed the cooking smell from stinky mushrooms to something much nicer and made the broth almost lightly beefy tasting. I may use this broth (without pureed or pieces of mushroom) for onion soup. I think it would make the onion soup a little more special than just plain beef broth.

Oh my heavens, this soup is perfect. I love the balsamic vinegar, and the depth of flavor is lovely! I did add a couple cloves of sauteed garlic and substituted dry thyme for the parsley. Fantastic! Now I just wish it wasn't already soup weather in Washington...

I was looking for a delicious soup to serve to some girlfriends who are coming over for dinner - thrilled I stumbled on your recipe. Can't wait to serve this with a green salad, fresh bread and yummy wine.

Hi Kalyn!I am on love with your mushroom soup recipe and have made it a few times already. YUM, YUM!! Thank you!I did make it my own by adding in somer ed lentils as it was cooking...still good for phase I and it bumped up the fiber and thickness of the soup wihtout taking away the flavor.

This soup is really tasty. I will be making it again very soon. I can never follow a recipe verbatim so I made a couple changes. I substituted vegetarian "beef" stock for chicken stock. I added non-fat sour cream before serving for a creamier texture. The soup is really yummy with or without the sour cream. I just happened to have some left over in the fridge.

Great soup! Luckily oyster mushrooms and criminis were on sale so I used those. And instead of drizzling with basalmic, I seared chicken in olive oil and basalmic and added right before serving. Thanks!

I love creamless creamy mushroom soup - the drizzle of balsamic vinegar definitely makes this soup. I recently had roasted red pepper soup with a swirl of balsamic vinegar on top too and it was so good.

Hi, have made this soup 3 times, using different mushrooms, and adding a dry sherry when the mushrooms exude their juices. All that is left is the delicious essence of the sherry. Easy recipe that freezes well, great with a side salad and crusty bread to mop up anything left in the bowls.Thanks!

Love that you posted this! I never even thought about making my own. I see recipes often that call for cream of mushroom, but I don't like the processed, metallic taste from the canned version. This would be perfect!

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